House Rules Committee posts temporary "Extenders" bill
The House Rules Committee posted text of the "Pathway for SGR Reform Act of 2013" today on their website. The temporary bill would delay SGR cuts and extend various rural health provisions, including MDH and LVH payments, current rural and super-rural ambulance rates, and the GPCI work floor through the end of March, 2014. The passage of this temporary package would allow work to permanently repeal the SGR and permanently extend the rural Medicare extenders to continue after the Christmas break. The Senate Finance Committee and House Ways and Means Committee will "mark-up" their respective approaches to full repeal tomorrow, but both chambers plan to recess for the year on Friday and will not be able to pass a final package on full repeal before then. The temporary package is expected to clear both chambers before recess. Information about the temporary package is available here. Information about the Senate Finance Committee mark-up is available here. Information about the House Ways and Means Committee mark-up is available here. The timing of this legislation after the Christmas recess makes attendance at the 25th Annual Policy Institute critically important. More information on the the Policy Institute is available here.